The One Thing To Fix Your Fatigue

Have you ever felt like you're always tired and have no energy?

 

Midlife women are more prone to feeling exhausted and fatigued, but the new episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast is here with all the answers. Tune in to hear our special guest, Dr. Evan Hirsch, discuss the one thing that could revolutionize your life and get you back on track when it comes to energy levels!

 

Evan H. Hirsch, MD, is a world-renowned fatigue & Long Haulers expert and is the Founder & CEO of the International Center for Fatigue. Through his best-selling book, podcast, and international online programs (that can be accessed from everywhere), he has helped thousands of people around the world resolve their chronic fatigue & Long Haulers symptoms naturally, and is on a mission to help 1 million more. He has been featured on television, podcasts, and summits, and when he's not at the office, you can find him singing musicals, dancing hip-hop, and playing basketball with his family.

 

In this episode, you'll learn:

 

- What is the “one thing” that can help you finally get back on track with your energy levels

- How to recognize fatigue and be proactive in addressing it

- Tips for managing stress, getting adequate rest, and leading a balanced lifestyle

- And more!

 

Don't miss out on this exclusive episode of The Hormone Prescription Podcast with Dr. Evan Hirsch, and finally get the answers you've been looking for to resolve your fatigue once and for all! Tune in today and take back control of your energy levels.

 

(00:00): If you wanna learn how to play the piano, you hire a piano coach. If you wanna learn how to increase your energy, you hire an energy coach. Whatever you want to do in life, hire a coach to guide you there faster and safer. Dr. Evan Hirsch this and more in this episode. How to Get rid of Your Fatigue.

 

(00:22): So the big question is, how do women over 40 like us keep weight off, have great energy, balance our hormones and our moods, feel sexy and confident, and master midlife? If you're like most of us, you are not getting the answers you need and remain confused and pretty hopeless to ever feel like yourself again. As an O B G gyn, I had to discover for myself the truth about what creates a rock solid metabolism, lasting weight loss, and supercharged energy after 40 in order to lose a hundred pounds and fix my fatigue, now I'm on a mission. This podcast is designed to share the natural tools you need for impactful results and to give you clarity on the answers to your midlife metabolism challenges. Join me for tangible, natural strategies to crush the hormone imbalances you are facing and help you get unstuck from the sidelines of life. My name is Dr. Kyrin Dunston. Welcome to the Hormone Prescription Podcast.

 

(01:15): Hi everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kiran. I'm so glad that you decided to join me. Today we're talking about fatigue and some of you still haven't solved your fatigue problems from last year that you had because you don't know what to do. I get it. So this is why I wanted to have my gift on today because fatigue is universal. The majority of people actually will go through periods of time in their lives where they are more tired than they think they should be and they don't have their energy restored from rest. It's very common. It's actually more common among women over 40. So that's why we're gonna talk about it. It's usually an often associated with weight problems, weight and fatigue. Problems go hand in hand because of the way the body functions. And if you stick with me long enough, I will teach you about that interaction. 

 

(02:08): And my guest today really has drilled down on fatigue and has helped so many people to fix their fatigue. You know, fatigue was such a big part of my life before I got on my healing journey over a decade ago, that there were times where all I had the energy to do was work and sleep. So even though I was a, a mom and a wife and had, you know, so many other roles in my world, I really only had energy for two things. And I was sleeping and working. So all my relationships suffered and my self-esteem suffered. My relationship with myself suffered. It was really a hard time. And maybe you can relate, maybe it's not that severe for you, maybe it's more subtle. But if you take a look at your energy level compared to when you were 20, I think that's a great gauge.

 

(03:00): You really should be able to have the same level of energy at 60, 70, 80 that you did at 20. There's no reason that you can't have that. But you gotta know what to do to avoid the deterioration that the majority of people succumb to cuz they don't know and they think it's quote unquote normal for them to get tired as they age. So they just accept it. They don't know what to do about it. Unfortunately, mainstream doctors aren't taught this either. So Dr. Evan and I are gonna dive into it nitty gritty, what do you need to look at? What do you need to start working on with your fatigue? I will say it's simple and straightforward, the steps you need to take. And most people do best with a guide, a learned guide to do this process because there are some intricacies. So I'll say it's simple, not necessarily easy.

 

(03:53): But for those of you who are like, I'm sick and tired of feeling this way, we've got the steps. So I'll tell you a little bit about Dr. Evan and then we'll get started. Evan Hirsch is an md, he's world renowned fatigue and long hauler's expert. He's the founder and c e o of the International Center for Fatigue. Through his bestselling book podcast and international online programs that can be accessed from everywhere, he has helped thousands of people around the world resolve their chronic fatigue and long hauler symptoms. Naturally she is on a mission to help 1 million more. He's been featured on television podcast summits and when he is not at the office you could find him singing musicals cause he has the energy to do that, dancing, hip pop, and playing basketball with his family. Welcome Dr. Evan Hirsch to the podcast. Thanks

 

(04:38): So much for having me on. Dr. Kyrin,

 

(04:40): Really happy to talk about fatigue again because this is something that people are really struggling with now more than ever. I think we've come out of lockdown. People might have been a little hesitant at first, but now it seems like everyone's on full tilt trying to make up for lost time. And a lot of people are hitting a wall, especially if they got covid, they're really hitting a wall. I have some colleagues and friends who are in that situation. So I think it's very timely. Why is this such a big issue for us in this new year? More than it has been before?

 

(05:16): Yeah, so my perspective as a functional medicine and environmental medicine physician is really one about the total body burden. And as we go through life, we accumulate things. Sometimes it's physical things like heavy metals or chemicals or molds or infections. Sometimes it's mental. Maybe we get, you know, a lot of news, a lot of negative things coming into our minds. Maybe we've had trauma. So that kind of bleeds over into the emotional, maybe it's spiritual, like we're not living our path. And when you get all of those things together, like the the instability that we've seen over the last few years, whether it's financial, whether it's physical or health wise, it all accumulates and then it makes it harder for people to manage their daily lives. And all of this going on with the difference between what happened when we were growing up where you could have a one income household now where you need two income households, right? So then there's more stress at home and there's more challenges raise raising children. And people are wondering why is it harder now? And it's just this accumulation of things over time. And so that's why it's so important to have practices and to take time for making sure that you're being as intentional as possible with your life.

 

(06:33): It is so important to make sure you're being intentional and taking time. Everybody knows you probably need to change your diet, you might need to take some supplements, you probably need to change what you're eating. But I would just wanna highlight what you're saying because I think that that's the piece that everybody misses. Like nobody's willing to slow down and sit their butt down and actually meditate, right? Nobody's willing to, you know, start saying, no, I can't host that pta, you know, committee no to this start saying no and really change the way they live their lives. So maybe we even start with that because I think it's the simplest thing that you listening you could start doing making changes to that today and it would start to impact your energy level. So can we talk a little bit more about that? What are some key factors in that lifestyle component?

 

(07:32): Absolutely. And you know, I just got so excited what I heard you say no because this is one of the really big things that I love to chat about. You know, Warren Buffet said that people who say no a lot are really successful and people who say no all the time are the most successful. And the reason why this is, is because when you're saying no to something, you're saying yes to something else, right? And so if you're saying no to that p t a meeting, you're saying yes to spending more time with your family potentially, right? And so that's one thing that we have to balance. And I was actually talking with a couple of colleagues this morning about values and figuring out what your values are. And for me, a major value that I have is fun. But guess what happens when I chart out what I'm doing during my day, I'm working from this time to this time I am doing helping out at home with this and this whatever. It's like where is the fun If, if one of my top priorities is fun and I don't have fun for like a half an hour every single day, guess what? I'm not gonna be fulfilled. Right? So it's just really important to take a look at that and say and realize that, okay, what do you wanna say yes to? And if you're saying yes to that thing, what do you have to say no to in order to make sure that you're saying yes to that thing?

 

(08:50): I think that's so important. Everybody listening knows that I went on this four month trip to Africa and I have to tell you it was one of the most beautiful things ever because number one, people knew I was outta the country. So they didn't ask me to do stuff . And especially at the holidays when it can be so time consuming. It was so refreshing to not have a Christmas tree, not have to do all the things around the holidays that you do in the US And I just had the most relaxing time. And I think that I've brought that back with me so that next year I have a like neurologic memory of what it feels like to do the holidays calmly and insanely and mindfully. And I'm gonna do it the same. So yes, saying no is huge. I think it's one of the hardest things for women to do.

 

(09:39): I know it has been hard for me, but it's hard one over the years that now. And I love, oh gosh, who was it I heard say, was it Marie Forlio who says, she says, my automatic response now is no. And then she says, but I always reserve the right to come back later and change it after I think about it. But it's so much harder to think in the moment, do I wanna do that? Do I not wanna do that? And so if you just say, no, I'm sorry I can't, if that changes, I'll get back to you. Bingo. You, you've given yourself time to think about it, right? Yeah.

 

(10:11): I had Cassie Bjork on my podcast a couple months ago and she used a similar phrase. It was, I'm unavailable for that right now.

 

(10:20): Yes, right. Which

 

(10:22): Is so good. It's just like I'm unavailable for that right now.

 

(10:26): Yes. And I'm available for my epso salt bath and you know, cuddling with my kitty cat. So I challenge everyone listening to just say no to a few things today. Just try it out and see what happens. And let's dive a little bit deeper though, cause Covid has come and I had it. I don't Did you have it? I haven't had it, yeah. Lucky you. I got it. I did think I was gonna die and then I did recover, but for a few weeks I was extremely tired. I have a very good friend who has had chronic fatigue for over a year now. Ever since she had it, her hair has fallen out and she's really struggling. So let's maybe talk to the people who have legitimate medical things. Not that the things we were talking about aren't legitimate medical cause they do affect your hormones, everybody listening, your cortisol, your progesterone, everything, thyroid, insulin. But let's get into a little bit talking about covid.

 

 (11:26): Absolutely. So unfortunately what we're seeing right now is very high percentage of people who get covid and get five or so symptoms when they have covid, even if they're very mild, about a third of those people can potentially move on to having persistent symptoms or long covid or long haulers, whatever you want to call it. And so that's a tremendous amount. You know, if you're looking at a a billion people, which is about the number of people, people who've had covid, you know, it's, if you're looking at 10% of that, that's a hundred million. It's just, and so we're talking about like the size of the United States. 300 million is really what's projected once everybody has covid. So I don't think a billion people have had it, but that's like the projection of where it's going. So that's like the size of United States of people who would have persistent symptoms.

 

(12:14): Now there's over 200 different symptoms that people can end up having that will persist. So pretty much any new symptom that you have after a cold could potentially be long covid. And we actually have a long covid quiz on our website for those who are interested. But it's a big problem. And some of the reasons why people are, are not getting the help that they need is because you go to your local covid clinic and you've got a GI doctor to help you with your diarrhea and you've got a pulmonologist there to help you out with your shortness of breath and you've got a cardiac doctor there, cardiologist to help you out with your heart palpitations. But the reality is, is that it's all from a persistent infection. So the virus gets inside your body and coupled with a number of these other causes that we're gonna talk about ends up causing problems, bypassing the immune system and ends up causing inflammation. Depending on where it is in the body, it'll cause different symptoms. And so if you're looking at getting at the root cause, you have to make sure that you're actually addressing the virus that is persisting in the body.

 

(13:19): So for everybody listening, we talk about, oh I'm so tired, I'm so tired. But when is just fatigue? When does it become a medical issue? And same thing for covid, what are the symptoms that someone would know they're in that long covid category and what are the symptoms of someone who has a high enough level of fatigue? Is there a certain amount of time it has to persist? Is there a certain degree? Can you talk a little bit about how they can identify if they're in a category that needs to be evaluated or not?

 

(13:52): Yeah, so it's generally symptoms that are lasting longer than 30 days. And for some people it's loss of taste or smell. For some people they're spontaneously sweating, sweating. For some people they have awful sleep. But it's new symptoms since 2019, November, 2019 that resulted. I mean some people don't even realize that they had it right and then they, but then they get these weird symptoms. If they're lasting for longer than 30 days and it's negatively affecting your life, it's something that should be evaluated. Now, whether or not somebody is fatigued is very interesting because there is an actual criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, but fatigue, there isn't. And so this really has to do with what you're able to tolerate. And as humans, you know, we're incredibly adaptable. We just think, you know, quote unquote, we're getting older, but in reality there's something wrong that if we don't pay attention to it, it's gonna cause problems later.

 

(14:45): So if your energy is not where you wanna be and you're surviving on caffeine, energy, drinks, whatever it is, some sort of stimulant that's going to give you the energy that you need, and then maybe you need something to help you fall asleep at night, it's a problem, right? And so you can keep trying to adapt and trying to take things to fix it as a bandaid. But the reality is is that there's 39 different causes that we're actually looking at of fatigue. And everybody that we see who has fatigue has a combination of 20 or more of these causes. Now with long covid, that's just another one of those causes that's into the mix that we see. But everybody has a combination. So it's not like you have one problem and that if you fix that one problem that everything gets better.

 

(15:31): Right. And I think that's super important to highlight because we're really taught in the medical model that both you and I were trained in to look for the one thing, one problem, and the one medication to give and the one surgery to do. And now because we've had a advanced training, we know that that's a bunch of baloney. But I think the average person doesn't get it and they just wanna go to the doctor and get a diagnosis. But this will be a little bit of a fun walk down memory lane. How did you used to evaluate people who came in who said they were too tired for too long, like they had chronic fatigue? What we're gonna talk about, what's a mainstream medical model that both Dr. Evan and I used to practice?

 

(16:15): Yeah, no, there is a caveat here because I became board certified in holistic medicine when I was in residency.

 

(16:22): Oh you did? Okay.

 

(16:23): . So I didn't have a ton of time like that, but still, you know, it was thyroid, it was thyroid, it was anemia, you know, whether it was iron deficiency or something. That was another thing that I learned. I mean B12 and folate and you know, all these other things we really didn't talk about because of the levels that we were looking at, you know, the quote unquote normal range. But there's, how many times did we, you know, say, Hey, you know, your thyroid's fine, you're you, you're not anemic. Doesn't look like you've got hepatitis or any sort of severe cardiac or lung issue. I don't know how to help you.

 

(16:58): Exactly. I did know that that's what we're taught as doctors. And can you talk a little bit about that? You, you held up your hands in quotes, but they can't see you the normal range because a lot of people will come to me and they'll say, oh no, it's not my thyroid. My doctor checked my thyroid and my labs are normal and I ha have to explain. Yeah, well 80% of the time when they say it's normal it there's a problem. So can you talk a little bit about that?

 

(17:28): Absolutely. So the normal range that you'll see on a laboratory test, what that lab company does is they take, it's a population based range. So they take everybody who's done the test and they create a bell curve and they chop off the top and the bottom fifth percentiles and they call that normal. Now if all the, and I did the quotes again now, all those, all those, so you're taking a population of sick people, 70% of everybody in the United States is obese, right? So taking all those people and you're trying to, and you're calling that normal, what we're looking for in functional medicine is optimal. And so your ranges are always going to be generally a lot tighter and usually higher. Especially when you're looking at something like thyroid or, or whatever. You're gonna wanna make sure you're looking at an optimal range,

 

(18:16): Right? So that's key everybody. So just cuz they say your labs are normal doesn't mean they're optimal. There's a difference. All right, so you got persistent symptoms, you can definitely take the quiz on Dr. Evan's website. If you have had covid and you're, you think that you might have long covid or long haulers and I, I say for chronic fatigue is if you're not, if you feel tired on a regular basis, you wanna nap, you wake up unrefreshed, you're not able to keep your joy in life and keep up with your usual activities, that's a problem. And if it persists for more than a month, but definitely three to six months, you wanna get that evaluated. And the key thing that I wanna highlight that you said is, you know, some people push through and they're like, oh, I'm fine, I just have some coffee and I keep it moving. But the problem is that the reasons why you're having that chronic fatigue problem are going to be causing other problems for you in the future that you're not aware of. And that's just not something that mainstream doctors are taught and they don't know how to evaluate it. So you need a specialized evaluation to get at, how many factors did you say that you look at

 

(19:29): Now looking at 39 different causes? And don't be overwhelmed by that. You know, as you're listening to this, just realize that, you know, you invest the time, you know in a year from now you've moved through a process and you're gonna be a very different person for the rest of your life as opposed to going to doctors time and time again with band-aids that don't work for the next 20, 30 years.

 

(19:52): Right. You wanna get to the root cause so you can fix it for the long term. Right. And can you talk a little bit about what kind of things should people have done in an evaluation for fatigue?

 

(20:07): Absolutely. So when we look at these 39 different causes, and if you've heard me speak before, it keeps increasing as I learn more. And so you may have heard me say what wasn't it 33 before? Yes. Well now it's 39. But we look at we break up these causes into deficiencies and toxicity. So deficiencies are things that are not in the body that are supposed to be in the body. These are deficiencies in hormones and nutrients and mitochondria and lifestyle habits, neurotransmitters. And then there's toxicities. These are things that are in the body that aren't supposed to be in the body. So these are things like heavy metals and chemicals and molds and infections, whether it's parasites or viruses or bacteria or yeast or dental infections or sinus infections, allergies, negative emotional patterns or trauma electromagnetic fields, structural issues where you've, let's say you've gotten into a car accident or something like that or had some sort of injury.

 

(21:05): So all of those need to be looked at. And you know, one of the thing that we learned in medical school that is actually true is if you don't think about it, you're not gonna diagnose it. Right? Right. And so it's really important to make sure that you have a really broad differential, that you're looking at a lot of different causes to make sure that you leave no stone unturned. Because if, let's say you've got, you know, 20 out of 39 different causes and let's call those each a nail in the bottom of your foot, you pull out one nail and you still have 19 nails in the bottom of your foot, you know? Mm-Hmm. . So you pull out the gluten nail but you still don't feel any better. But let's say you pull out the mercury nail and the Bai nail and the parasite now and whatever, you get a mass effect where all of a sudden you get a big shift and you start to feel better. So you have to make sure that you're addressing all these things. Otherwise there's one nail that's left in the foot that really hurts. And if you haven't addressed that, then you're not gonna get all the way to the finish line.

 

(22:01): Yeah, it's so true. I see it even in women who go through my hormone program because a key part of having hormonal balances, you gotta fix the gut, you gotta address the mitochondrial function, you gotta, and then they say, no, I don't need any of that other stuff. And they never experience what's truly possible for them. But you know, you can lead a horse to water, you can't make or drink. And so really educating, I want everybody here listening to get that you have to take a Wyatt Castle wide net and have a comprehensive evaluation. So what kinds of things would go into treating, I mean you talked about all the items that go into that, into the evaluation and just how numerous they are, the problems that you can have, toxicities and deficiencies. Do you wanna pick some of the most common ones that you see and talk a little bit more in detail about what, like Canada, that's something that's hu rampant , right.

 

(23:02): Particularly in women, you know, Canada, which is yeast, is promoted by a lot of the hormonal contraceptives that we use. So a lot of women will have problems. It's promoted by our high glycemic index diet and lifestyle. And so it's opportunistic, it's waiting there. And when it's, you know, dark, warm and has sugar, it just proliferates. So can you talk a little bit about what you might see if someone had candid, how they might know they have it, what testing might be done, and then how do you start approaching and helping that person to rehab their body so that they can get rid of the fatigue?

 

(23:40): Yeah, so specifically with Canada, we're looking at a stool test that would potentially be positive. And you want to use a functional medicine laboratory. Your regular stool test with your doctor is not gonna do the trick, whether it's Canada or whether it's some other yeast. And then your symptoms, you know, do you have itching? That's really the biggest one. Is it itchy ears? Itchy anus, itchy skin? Do your symptoms get worse? Do you get brain fog potentially when you eat sugar? You know, are your symptoms worse when you sugar, when you go off of sugar, do you feel worse? You know, because essentially you're, you're killing off the Canada and it's it's dying in the body because you're starving it. And then in order to, and so for example, you know, what we do is we want to push it out, we want to starve it.

 

(24:24): So we started it with an antifungal diet, which is gonna be low sugars, you know, meat and vegetables, maybe a little bit of fruit, but maybe not depending on the person. Ideally no fruit, no additional sugars. And then we want to push it out with a probiotic. We want to kill it with an antifungal. And we're using all natural antifungal in our practice. And then you wanna, you wanna heal the gut and you wanna bind up the infections with some sort of binder. We're using some immunoglobulin in order to be able to do this. So that's just kind of an example.

 

(24:58): I know some people are like, oh my gosh, we, I have to do all that. That sounds like so much. But I love this quote that you shared with me before we started recording. The body loves small changes and also slow and steady wins the race. So you don't have people do all of that at one time, right? No. Okay.

 

(25:18): Yeah. Thank you for clarifying that. Yeah, and it's, you know, as humans we overestimate the amount that we can get done in a day and we underestimate the amount that we can achieve in a year. And it's just really important that every single day, and this is a mindset component that we talk about in our program every single day, you just need to take a step forward, do the next thing, right? Baby steps end up leading to success.

 

(25:41): It's so true. You know, when I was in Africa, my workout program was totally derailed cuz I didn't have my usual gym. And, you know, mere survival on a daily basis was sometimes challenging. And so now I'm back in the states and I went back to, I got back last week and I went to go work out this morning and of course my fitness level has dropped over four months. And I just kept telling myself, you showed up, you did your best. That's what counts. Mm-Hmm , you know, just make the investment and don't look for the outcome. The outcome will come. So you just slow and steady wins The race body loves small changes. And so everybody listening, you know, it's, it's New Year's just passed, you probably made some resolutions. And if you're listening to the podcast, you're doing something good for yourself, you're investing in your health. So Rome wasn't built in today, right? It takes time. So you need to do these things over time. And particularly if you're dealing with chronic fatigue, you do need a stepwise comprehensive approach if you want the best outcome. So what else is important to know about, you wrote the book Fixture Fatigue and what else might be involved in the evaluation or treatment that people might wanna know about?

 

(26:57): So I take people through a four step process where the first step is to determine the causes that they have. Now, fortunately, of those 39 different causes, 75% of those can be determined by symptoms alone. So people join our program, they go through the questionnaire and I'm gonna know 75% of their causes right out of the gate without even any having any labs. And so then we fig then the rest of the program is just applying the, the treatment for the particular cause that somebody has. And so we start off by replacing the deficiencies first. Now big picture, this process is all about removing the toxins in step four, the heavy metals, the chemicals, the molds and the infections, et cetera. Cuz those are actually causing the deficiencies but we need to replace them. So the big three is called is the adrenals, the mitochondria and the thyroid. And so opting, optimizing those first is kind of what you were talking about where it makes people feel better and then they don't want to go into step four

 

(27:57): , I'm good, I don't need any more help. You're like, no, you don't see the, the pothole you're getting ready to fall into. But

 

(28:05): Exactly. And so, and sometimes you can, you can optimize those until the cows come home and you're still gonna feel badly because your system is overwhelmed by one of these other toxins. So we replace things in step two in order to make you more resilient and deal with the stress of of step four and removing those things out of the body cuz it is gonna be stressful physically, not just psychologically. And then in step three we open up the drainage pathways. So the liver, the kidney, the lymph, the intestines. We wanna make sure that we're able to get the toxins out of the body. So I envision this kind of like a funnel where we're gonna be dumping things into this funnel. We have to make sure that those pathways are open. Otherwise as we start to dump heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, people start to feel worse. So we open those things up in step three and then in step four we're removing all of these toxins and they're very much interlaced where the heavy metals, chemicals, molds and infections are all kind of feeding off each other. They're bound to each other. So when you start to remove them, you wanna make sure that you've got something that's going to address these things as they start to be released and dealt with.

 

(29:13): Yeah, I know some people right now are like, what did he say? I don't know how to do this. It sounds so complicated. It's like the car mechanic when I go and I'm like, when I push the start button in my car, it won't start. And he goes, oh well the catalytic converter such and such and so, and I'm just like, glaze over. So folks, this is, it's very complicated. Just like cars are complicated, your body's even more complicated. So it does really require professional involvement to do it right? I'm all for diy, I love to DIY things myself, but at some point, you know, I want the tile in my bathroom to look good when I'm done , I'm gonna hire a professional. So you know, you can read Dr. Evans book at the end of the podcast, he's actually gonna give you a free copy. So you wanna stay tuned for that. And you'll see that he really is an expert about fixing fatigue. He knows all the ins and outs so you don't have to just like when you take your car, you don't have to know. But what are some things, maybe there's some people listening, they're not overly tired but they're listening cuz they're thinking maybe Dr. Evan can tell me a few things that I could tweak in my diet, exercise, lifestyle supplement regimen that might help me feel better. What would you say to them about that?

 

(30:36): Yep. So that, and that's really the first place to start. You know, most of the time when I see people, they've already done that and they've, they're eating a perfect diet. You know, they're meditating, they're working on their sleep, you know, they're doing all these things. So the goal that I have found is that, is that you want to be eating as close to a paleo diet as possible. So meat and veggies, you want low on sugars, low on carbs, you wanna make sure you know, protein fat and local glycemic carbs is kind of where it's at. You know, half of your plate should be vegetables, eat dinner for breakfast, you know, so you know, have a salad, have you know, roast some veggies, that sort of thing and make sure you're, you're having meat if you don't consume meat it's a little bit more challenging but you wanna make sure that protein fat and low carbs is what you're looking for.

 

(31:23): And then in terms of your sleep, the, the closer you get to sleep closer you get to nine o'clock the better. So I used to say 10 o'clock and then myself and a bunch of people in my community got oral rings and we and it said well and then actually it should be earlier than that. And I started testing it and seeing with other people and sure enough their scores went up and they felt better. And so we really want people to be going to sleep closer to nine o'clock and sleeping for at least seven hours, seven to nine hours generally. The other interesting thing too is that the later that you eat food, the more it can have effect on your heartbeat and co your heart rate and consequently the worse your sleep can be. So really trying not to eat after 6:00 PM is ideal or six 30, something like that.

 

(32:13): But the earlier that you can stop eating then and having a period of fasting before you go to bed, that can just be incredibly helpful because it takes a lot of work to digest food and so your heart rate will stay up and your body doesn't realize it's time to sleep. And so that can negatively affect your sleep. I mean going to bed and waking up at the same time every day is always a good idea. And then of course we've got all of our screens, we wanna make sure no horror films in the evening, no fights in the evening. We want to get into the parasympathetic as much as possible. Wearing blue light blockers, putting blue light blockers on your phone, putting it in night mode, that's oftentimes a way to do that. But that's sleep, that's food. You wanna make sure you're drinking two to three liters of water a day when you're going through a detox and you're removing some of the, the crap in the body that's there.

 

(33:01): We recommend people consuming, regardless of your weight to be closer to about three liters unless you're a child or a teenager. But then the last thing is movement. You know, where ideally you'd have what I call the Goldilocks dose of movement where if you move too much, it makes you feel worse. If you move too little, it makes you feel worse. So you wanna find that ideal dose, but you have to pay attention to how it feels in your body. And if you're fatigued then you may be able, you may be saying, you know, I can't move at all and that's okay. Just when you can, you know, do five jumping jacks or do some burpees, if you can do those or do walk around the block, you know, whatever you can do that's not gonna make you feel worse, go ahead and do that cuz that'll stimulate a number of things.

 

(33:44): You know, exercise and movement. I call it movement more than exercise cuz sometimes people have a hesitancy to, they don't like that word exercise. Sometimes it's dancing, that's really great. One or playing basketball or whatever's gonna be fun. But you know, if you look at the research movement is like a panacea, it's like a cure for everything. Yeah. It helps with detoxification and mood and, and it's so interesting to see it in my 14 year old too. It's like she's pretty sedentary and then she goes to karate and she moves around and she gets all sweaty and her mood is so much better. And so it's just really an important reminder for all of

 

(34:21): Us. So true. I think those are just great baseline lifestyle habits to aim for for everybody. Especially if you're feeling fatigued. I have to ask you because it's all a rage right now. Do you think if people are having chronic fatigue, that they should intermittent fast? We're not.

 

(34:40): I think intermittent fasting is excellent. However, it can also be stressful on the body. And so if your adrenals are compromised, which is a gland that manages stress in the body, then potentially you can't, you don't want to do anything that's gonna kind of put you over the edge. And so I tell people to test it if they want to try it, if they feel worse then it's too much and they shouldn't do it. But if they can tolerate it, then eating two meals, eating all your meals or two meals within a six hour period from like 12:00 PM to 6:00 PM can really do wonders for the body.

 

(35:12): Yeah, okay. I wanted to make sure to bring that up. And the other thing is, whenever people hear about a functional approach, a root cause resolution approach, and we start talking about labs, what's the first thing they say? Oh is my, can my regular doctor do it? Does my insurance cover it? So can you talk a little bit about that? I think it's super important because I think, you know, when I weighed 243 pounds and I finally found someone who looked like they knew what they were talking about, like same stuff we're talking about who might be able to help me, I was so desperate to get better because I was chronically fatigued, my hair was falling out, I had anxiety, depression, all kinds of maladies. And they said, well you need these two tests, each one costs $500. I was willing to pay it. But I sometimes see people and they say, oh I'm not gonna pay that if my insurance doesn't cover it. So can you talk a little bit about the, the cost of tests?

 

(36:12): Absolutely. So, you know, we're looking at 39 different causes and like I said, 75% can be determined by symptoms alone. But there are 25% that really need lab tests and those generally run around $1,500. And what I tell people in our programs, you know, aren't cheap, you know, and so it's an investment. No, you know when you go this route and you're actually looking at the root causes because you wanna get rid of 'em, cuz guess what? These root causes of fatigue and other issues are also the same root causes of heart attack, heart disease, strokes, Alzheimer's, and cancer. So you deal with it now or you deal with it later. And so the way you have to think about it is as if you're getting a master's because it's gonna take that long, it's gonna take a year or two, you're going to get all this knowledge that you're going to be able to use further and you're basically fixing your problems so that the rest of your life is amazing.

 

(37:05): You know, like I was hesitant about or going into residency cuz I already knew that I wanted to practice in this way and I didn't wanna do a conventional residency, but I also knew that if I did a residency, it would give me lots more options and I would learn a ton more information. And I'm so glad that I did, you know, it was really hard on me, but I learned so much that enables me to help people today. Mm-Hmm . And so you're making an investment of time, money, and energy so that you can get something at the end of it. You know, like you went to college, like you got a master's degree. This is just another way that you're making that investment in yourself so that the rest of your life can be amazing.

 

(37:45): I, I say amen to that. And I know there's some people listening who think, oh, Dr. Evan, this is just a factor of me getting older. Everybody gets older, gets tired as they get older and they think that they can't be helped, they think, oh, my fatigue's not that bad. I don't have any of these underlying toxicities or deficiencies he's talking about. And so is getting tired, quote unquote normal as you age.

 

(38:12): I have a, a client who's 68 who says he feels better now than he did when he was 30. Right? So generally it's really a mass effect. It's a total body burden. The longer , the longer you're in port, the more barnacles you get. So the longer you're on this longer you're on this earth, the more toxins you get. You know, my story was, you know, I came out of my mom's womb and she dumped all her good stuff and all her not so good stuff into me. And then I ate gluten and dairy growing up and I was constipated for the first 25 years of my life until I realized that it wasn't normal to poop once a week. And so I couldn't get rid of any toxins that I was accumulating. I ate a lot of tuna fish, which has mercury in it, and I had mercury fillings and so that was accumulating in my body. Didn't eat organic food, had pesticides, got formal, the high poisoning from gross anatomy class, lived in moldy buildings, kissed people who had Epstein bar virus in lime, grew up in New Jersey, right? And so went through residency and then boom, you know, like, so that was the story that I had where I thought that it was all of a sudden it was residency, but the reality was is that it was this accumulation. And so you're, you're just unwinding, you're peeling this onion, getting at all of these different causes along the way.

 

(39:31): Yeah. I thank you for sharing that because I think people can get the idea that you don't have to be doing anything wrong to have a significant toxic and deficiency load. We all have it, it's just a matter of degree. And what you see with aging is not quote unquote normal aging. What you're seeing is the accumulated effects of toxicity deficiency stress on the body. And that's why you see some 90 year olds who are, you know, running marathons and you see some people who don't even make it to 90 is because of this variation. And we blame it mostly on, you know, genetics. But that's a fallacy. Great. So thank you so much for highlighting that and we're gonna wrap it up. This has been great. I think everyone's gotten a lot of value. Dr. Evan has given you some tips of things that you can do, start doing this week, right?

 

(40:30): Start making some changes. You can tweak your diet, tweak your sleep schedule, tweak your movement. Some things to think about in terms of you can go take the quiz on his website to see if you've had covid, do you have long covid? And maybe it is time for an evaluation, maybe you wanna get to the root cause of it now so that the rest of your life can be amazing. Like his 68 year old patient who shared that he feels better than he had. I mean, I, I feel better now than I did when I was in my twenties for sure. And I attribute that to every, everything that we do, all the work that we do with ourselves and that we now teach others. So maybe it is time for that. Dr. Evan is giving you a free copy of his book Picture Fatigue. We will have the link in the show notes, so if you're driving, don't try to write that down when you get home. You can just click the link. Evan, you wanna tell them a little bit about the book?

 

(41:26): So the book was written in 2017, so it's been, it's been about five years right now, but it gives you a nice outline of the four step process. And if you do like what you're hearing and reading and you're interested in getting on a free call for your 20 minute call to see if we're a good fit to work together, those are available. You can also text us from our website, energy md method.com in the lower right hand corner, it goes directly to me so we can text back and forth, which is kind of fun. So we can see, you know, if, if we're a good fit. And I can answer any questions that you have. But the goal really is to, you know, so much of this is, is mindset, and yes, we wanna work on the physical, but you know, like we talked about initially, anything that you're saying no to, you're saying yes to something else. Anything that you say you should do, you have to be careful. Otherwise you're shooting all over yourself, right?

 

(42:19): . Yeah,

 

(42:20): , you wanna make sure that you're being intentional with your choices.

 

(42:24): Yes. Well, thank you so much Dr. Evan Hirsch for joining us on the Hormone Prescription Podcast today. Thank you for your path, your expertise, your wisdom, your caring, your passion for helping people fix their fatigue.

 

(42:40): Thanks so much for having me

 

(42:41): On. And thank you for joining me for another episode of The Hormone Prescription with Dr. Kiran. I hope that you've learned something today that is going to positively impact your health. I challenge you to implement just one thing, post about it on social media, media and share it with me and look forward to hearing about your successes, and I look forward to seeing you again next week on another episode of The Hormone Prescription. Until then, peace, love,

 

(43:10): And hormones y'all. Thank you so much for listening. I know that incredible vitality occurs for women over 40 when we learn to speak hormone and balance these vital regulators to create the health and the life that we deserve. If you're enjoying this podcast, I'd love it if you'd give me a review and subscribe. It really does help this podcast out so much. You can visit the hormone prescription.com where we have some free gifts for you, and you can sign up to have a hormone evaluation with me on the podcast to gain clarity into your personal situation. Until next time, remember, take small steps each day to balance your hormones and watch the wonderful changes in your health that begin to unfold for you. Talk to you soon.

 

► Get Dr. Evan's FREE PDF copy of his book, "Fix Your Fatigue: The 4 Step Process to Resolving Fatigue and Achieving Amazing Energy." - CLICK HERE

Visit his website to learn more about him and his works.

CLICK HERE to book a FREE 20 min. call with Dr. Evan Hirsch.

 

► Feeling tired? Can't seem to lose weight, no matter how hard you try?

 

It might be time to check your hormones.

 

Most people don’t even know that their hormones could be the culprit behind their problems. But at Her Hormone Club, we specialize in hormone testing and treatment. We can help you figure out what’s going on with your hormones and get you back on track.

 

We offer advanced hormone testing and treatment from Board Certified Practitioners, so you can feel confident that you're getting the best possible care. Plus, our convenient online consultation process makes it easy to get started.

 

Try Her Hormone Club for 30 days and see how it can help you feel better than before.

 

CLICK HERE to sign up.